your opinions on LED taillight bulbs

[marshmallow15]

what is your opinion on 1157 12 LED taillight bulbs? ive been thinking of getting them because im tired of replacing broken light bulbs in my taillights. anyone have opinions on these?

[atlantamx3]

I hate them.

They are not very bright.

The last time I was behind someone that had them, I almost rammed them because I could not tell that they were applying the brake.

My advice:

Dont buy them.

[marshmallow15]

are you talking about LED bulbs? or a car with OE led taillights like some cadillacs and etc?

[Mnemonic]

i have them and they are dull, mainly because on how there designed they dont work with how our light fittings work

[DJPRO]

LED's are only good for the front turning signals and side markers in our cars. If you want to put them on your tails, you need to drill a hole horizontally so they can be seen.

later,
dee

[DJPRO]

Also good for the third brake light.

[marshmallow15]

ugh that's geh. thanks for the warning guys.

[Gro Harlem]

Another warning about them. A buddy of mine had some on his Protege...they were brighter, but the used less voltage than the stock bulbs.

You might think this isn't a big deal, but he later realized that his cruise control wouldn't work properly. You know how if you are cruising, you press the brake to deactivate the cc? Well he said that the voltage these things drew was so low, that the CC wouldn't disengage when you pressed the brake. I guess the CC brain is wired into the brake lights.

[atlantamx3]

Originally posted by marshmallow15:
are you talking about LED bulbs? or a car with OE led taillights like some cadillacs and etc?

No, I am talking about the aftermarket bulbs.

I love the new Cadillacs with the LED taillights OEM-- those are BADDDDD!!!

[Blindmelon]

Stock tailight bulbs as we know are usually clear. A buddy of mine changed his to red APC bulbs and they took his tailights from an orangy/red to a bright deep red and it looks really good. Just thought I would mention this as an alternative to the LEDs.

[Taras]

Yes, but..... they will be at least 6-10lm less in output. Probably will not going to make a difference at night, but on a bright sunny day, someone might miss you braking. The things we do for "looks good"

[Taras]

Thanks Jeff,

I would not call myself an expert as I am still learning. Here is what I have gathered so far.

Regular 5mm LED's put out about 1-2lm, depends on colour and viewing angle. Your 1157 and others put out 300-400lm. You need about 300-450 regular LED's to be in the same range. Aftermarket twist-in LED bulbs have bteween 12-30 5mm LED's. YOu do the math. Although more and more brighter oned get developed. Another thing the "twinst-in" LED bulbs do not have is the viewing angle. THey are pretty direct and if you stand to the side, you may not see them, unless your plastic reflector is efficient.

LED's are cool. Because they light up so fast and the driver behind you can see you brake sooner. Milliseconds, but it counts.

There are really cool LED's avalable. Lumileds. www.lumileds.com I beleive that is what OEM such as BMW, Nissan, Cadillac, Lexus and some motorcycle manufacturers use. You need about 10-20 Lumiled Luxeon SuperFlux for a marker light intensity. But look at Luxeon Star And Luxeon III. 80lm per LED. Now we are talking. Of course intensity and life of your LED will vary with Amperage you load on it too.

Grote www.grote.com also uses LED's in their truck modules. I bet those are Luxeon SuperFlux ones. They look like ones.

Have you looked at www.radiantz.com ? May give you a few ideas. But it is for cruiser bikes though. Pricey too.

I think the price of Luxeon LED's will come down in price some time soon so you can buy 50 or so and do a good retrofit on a car. Bike, may be 15-20. I've seen some newer ones use LED as well. Otherwise I would try to find some to retrofit from:
Here
Grote
BuyTruckStuff
I would be placing my bets on Grote stuff as, although unconfirmed, I think they use Lumiled stuff. Hopefully you could fit their 4" module. May be two marker modules?

I think this is all I can come up with right now.

[Taras]

Where to buy Luxeon products:
Future Electronics

[Gro Harlem]

whitep5...why ressurect a thread started by marsh 2 years ago????

on top of that, he's promoting some ghey LED bulb website like a spammer